Did You Apply for a Student Loan IDR in the Past Year? You May Need to Reapply

CNET

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You may need to reapply for an income-driven repayment plan if your student loan servicer is Mohela.
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An income-driven repayment plan can offer you a more affordable student loan payment. But if you applied for an IDR plan before April 27, 2025, and your servicer is Mohela, you may need to resubmit an application.
Mohela, one of the Department of Education's contracted loan servicers, posted on its website that IDR applications received prior to April 27 did not include income information and would be automatically canceled. If you're already on an IDR plan, such as Saving on a Valuable Education, and you applied to change plans before this date, you'll also likely have to resubmit your application.
You don't have to reapply for an IDR plan if you applied after April 27. Don't panic if you haven't heard back about your new payment plan yet. Your loans could be placed into a temporary forbearance while your application is processed.
Switching to an IDR became more difficult last year, after the courts were weighing the legality of SAVE plans. During this time, the Department of Education paused IDR processing and even removed the online applications from the StudentAid.gov website. IDR processing resumed in November of 2024. This year, IDR plans were paused again in March and reopened in April.
Here's everything you need to know about how to find out if Mohela is your loan servicer, the steps you'll need to take you have to resubmit your IDR application and more options that borrowers enrolled in SAVE plans should consider.
How to find out if Mohela is your servicer
If you're enrolled in a SAVE plan, chances are you may not have logged in to your student loan account since before the pandemic. Between all the payment pauses and servicer changes over the past five years, you might not know who your current servicer is.
You can find out by logging in to your Federal Student Aid account at StudentAid.gov. Once you're logged into your account, you'll be able to view all your loans and balance information, as well as your repayment status and your servicer information.
How to resubmit an IDR plan application
You can apply for an income-driven repayment plan online at StudentAid.gov, the financial aid office of the Department of Education. Here are the steps you'll need to follow.
Go to the IDR plan request page at StudentAid.gov.
Select "Apply for an Income-Driven Repayment Plan" or "Recertify or Change Your Income-Driven Repayment Plan."
Then log into your Federal Student Aid account.
Confirm your contact information, like address, email and phone number. Select "continue" to proceed.
You'll then see which loans are eligible for you to reapply for an IDR plan. Select "continue" to proceed.
The next few pages will ask you to confirm personal information, like your marital status and family size.
Confirm any dependents and your income. You'll need to provide proof of income, like a W-2, paystub or bank statement.
Review the different IDR plans and select one. See different options and payment scenarios with the FSA loan simulator.
Review all your information and confirm and certify your application. Then select "continue" to submit your application.
Should SAVE borrowers switch plans?
Though the SAVE student loan repayment program has been shuttered, you don't have to move to a new IDR plan at this time. Your payments remain paused during the administrative forbearance. Experts recommend using this downtime to explore other IDR options, like the income-based repayment plan, income-contingent repayment plan or the Pay as You Earn plan.
If you're working toward debt relief through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program or a similar program, then it may make sense to change IDR plans so you can hit your 120 payment goal faster. If you're enrolled in the PSLF and would have reached the payment total if not for the current payment pause, you can apply for the PSLF buyback program instead of switching IDRs. This program may allow you to make the remaining payments required to reach the debt forgiveness status on your federal loans.